A Harold interview:

Harold: Alright today I am joined by Seth Dryden. Seth thank you for sitting down with me I know it’s been a weird 2 weeks for you, and I’m happy you could find the time to do this.

Seth Dryden: Yeah man, no prob.

Harold: First off let’s get to the ppv. You had a chance to take the title but didn’t, why didn’t you take advantage when you had the chance? Most would have.

Seth Dryden: Eh, it's easy to look back and say stuff like that when it's on tape or maybe even when you're not in the ring... But in the thick of it, some things seem to be good ideas and turn out to be pretty shitty.

Harold: Well the following week the rematch happens, you seemed to go in strong but then Havoc pulls a last minute promo and pretty much steals the match. Does that irk you at all, or do you feel that what goes around comes around. And second question is when you get your next shot; will you play nice or go for the jugular?

Seth Dryden: This week has been weird for me, ooc. Been way busy, and I just didn't feel it. Maybe if it had been a ppv match, you woulda seen me full force. I was about at 40% last week, hence the single promo. If I had been at 100%, Hav's last second promo wouldn't have mattered, and I don't fault him for it.

Harold: Well let’s talk history, where did you get your start and how long have you been in the business?

Seth Dryden: I've been rping for about.... ah fuck. It's either 5 or 6 years. I started with friends, then they stopped and I didn't. I went about six months with no internet, and came back. John Steele showed me EWA, and then I left to try to compete in the bigger competition SFT. The rest is pretty much the present.

Harold: You've been in SFT quite a while, left and come back; I like to ask this of all the veterans, what is it about SFT that keeps most returning?

Seth Dryden: The rpers. The staff always changes, and the roster fluctuates, but I can't find a more consistent fed. That and I know someone'll keep SFT running as long as the internet exists.

Harold: Well one constant has been Shadow. He's been SFT owner since its inception and most say SFT will survive as long as he’s around in one form or another. So I'll ask this as I have others. What kind of relationship do you have with the owner? And how do you get along with him if at all?

Seth Dryden: Overall, he's not bad. I wish he'd lighten up, and there are times I think he can be too subjective, but that's just him. He does, however, respond to any request I have, be it the answer I want or not, he's always willing to communicate if he's asked to. More than some owners can say.

Harold: Who do you get along with in or ooc in SFT and who do you dislike in or ooc? Everyone has their enemies, at one time you and I were at each others throats, but a truce was made, who else besides me have you had or have trouble with?

Seth Dryden: To this day I'd kick Fireball in the nuts if I ever came across him. I couldn't stand Bane, but that slid over. I've also been at odds with Legend. I'm pretty cool with most everyone else ooc. Both Cage's, Nirvana, Malinko, Allisa, Havoc, Joe Mokoko. Those are my buddies, and I could possibly even hang out with most or all of them in real life if we ever met.

Harold: Ok now let’s talk World title again; it’s been like musical chairs with that belt since Nirvana lost it way back when. Why do you personally feel it’s so hard to keep that title and consistently defend it? Is it that they get too confident, or too lazy, or just the level of talent in SFT?

Seth Dryden: Winning the title is what's held in high regard, sadly, and not keeping it. The level of talent right now isn't THAT high. I think he staff could help though, making title defenses only on ppv's and never on weekly shows, but that's kind of a cheap way of finding a lengthy champ.

Harold: Well Shadow has made it known he wants a fighting champ, he wants the champ to prove he is the best week in and week out, he puts a bulls eye on the champ and lets everyone worthy have a crack at him. He expects more of the champion and feels the champ should be more than just standard or good, but great each time. Some feel that unfair that some be judge on a higher standard than others, but that’s sort of the way he's always been. If you were on staff, who besides yourself would you consider world title material at this time?

Seth Dryden: I don't know at this time- possibly Malinko. Someday in the future De Marco and Alekz should be in the circle though.

Harold: When it’s all said and done and you finally step away what do you want your legacy to be? What I mean what would you want Seth Dryden to be remembered for? Seth Dryden: For coming in hard, and going out just as hard. I won the world title quick, and I wanna be remembered going out on top.

Harold: Many have mentioned you as one of the best rpers currently in SFT, your stories and style are very good to read, sorta like introspective, you can really get into the feel of the character, what motivates you to write as you do? What your inspiration? And coming up in the business who influenced you or who did you look up to or whose rps did you enjoy reading?

Seth Dryden: I was tutored by a guy named The Rogue/Dante. Nirvana remembers him. He was the first guy I saw doing stories instead of walking down to the ring and jabbering to the tune of some Limp Bizkit song. I took that up. I created Seth because I got tired of being a baddie, a downer. As far as inspiration, Seth's just a collection of good ideas, some of 'em coming at the last minute. Maybe I'm just lucky, that wouldn't be too far removed from the character, heh. As far as motivation, I'm in it for the competition. I love the idea of beating the fuck out of someone using words.

Harold: So its fair to say the better your opponent is the better you become, or the better you try? Like rising to the challenge so to speak.

Seth Dryden: Oh, that's natural. If I only fought rookies, I'd suck. The only times I've ever actually improved my writing it's been against people like Nirvana, Allisa, Clemmens.

Harold: Ok now a different question, if you could face anyone, from the past or present, doesn’t matter what fed, who would be your top 3 dream matches you’d want to have? Seth Dryden: I've had most of my dream matches happen. I suppose Cyril versus Legion, Seth versus Mad Dogg and Seth versus Damien Sparks.

Harold: Well those are some pretty big names, why them? Legion is dead; Mad Dogg has been retired for years and Damien almost as long.

Seth Dryden: Legion's dark, Cyril's dark. Everyone talks about Mad Dogg, and from what I've seen, he and Seth were about even on the totem pole. As for Sparks, I liked his stuff, and I think Dryden's kind of taken over his post as a sarcastic face-ish character in SFT.

Harold: Well I remember all 3, I think you and Sparks had a similar style which would make for a great match, Mad Dogg had probably some of the longest promos id ever seen which is like pounding and pounding on his opponents and just wearing them out, so how do you think you’d fair against a guy who wrote 10 page promos? And then there’s Legion, known basically for using details in his rps, he never spoke and used actions to get his point across or used secondary characters to get his point across, sometimes Legion didn’t even show up in his promos, how would you fare against someone like that?

Seth Dryden: As far as Seth goes, the only reason I'm not writing 4,000-6,000 word rps is because when I used to do that, people got bored. I can still crank out 25,000 words for a single match, so Mad Dogg wouldn't be that big of a problem. And I did concepts with Cyril as well, so I wouldn't need words to retort to.

Harold: You've had the US title for quite some time, which is a good title to have, means you’ll always been in the hunt for the world title, I know you're not the booker, but if you were, and honestly speaking, how long do you think it should be, before Seth got another shot at the World title?

Seth Dryden: If an angle was produced, the ppv. If not, I dunno. Maybe after an IC title run.

Harold: Why didn’t you enter the Deathmatch tournament, many were wondering and so am I.

Seth Dryden: I hate tourneys and clusterfuck matches. It's a potluck, and potentially undermines any sort of ranking system. I'd rather be in matches that make sense, instead of having names drawn from a hat.

Seth Dryden: I'm too old to be shooting the moon in a tournament lol.

Harold: So right now what’s next for Seth, what’s your goal as of now?

Seth Dryden: I dunno. Hold the US as long as I can, and see what's ahead of me, taking it one card at a time. I don't hold dreams for the HOF, if I end up there, cool. If not, then I did enough damage on the way.

Harold: Ok so here’s the moment of truth question, if next week you had a choice A. a world title shot or B. A one time match with Sparks or Mad Dogg, which would you choose and why?

Seth Dryden: B. A World Title shot wouldn't make sense so soon. But then again, I'd rather get a shot than someone else, so to play devil's advocate, if the title HAD to be defended, I'd want to be the challenger.

Harold: Well Seth I want to thank you for this very honest interview, I can honestly say you shot from the hip and didn’t give any fluffed up responses. So thank you and I'm sure our readers will enjoy what they read.

Seth Dryden: Yeah it's fine. Where'd I put my drink?